Meet the Founder of Stoicism | ZENO OF CITIUM
We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.
Zeno of Citium, around 300 BC, founded the Stoic school of philosophy. He published a list of works on ethics, physics, logic, and other subjects, including his most famous work: Zeno’s Republic, which does sound quite similar to a dialogue authored by a philosopher named Plato. Despite Zeno being the founder of Stoicism and having written extensively, he is hardly cited in modern Stoic literature. The reason for this is simple: none of his works have survived.
The good news is that other authors wrote about him. Biographer Diogenes Laërtius preserved most details about his life, including a series of fragments that give us an insight into what he taught. This video is a short essay about Zeno’s life and philosophy. There is no certainty about Zeno’s ethnic and cultural background, except that his nickname was the ’Phoenician’ and that Diogenes described him as a haggard, dark-skinned man. His father gave him books about Socrates that he brought back from his travels as a merchant. And, thus, Zeno became obsessed with philosophy.
He became a pupil of the famous cynic Crates of Thebes, and among his other teachers were Polemo and Stilpo. Later in life, Zeno started teaching himself in the Stoa Poikile. His pupils were called Zenonians first, but later became known as the Stoics. Zeno was concerned with the whole spectrum of Stoic philosophy, like logic, epistemology, and the nature of the universe which, according to his view, primarily consists of matter and is governed by a divine principle.
God, therefore, isn’t apart from the universe; it is the universe. This is a quote by Zeno, that Roman philosopher Cicero preserved: "That which exercises reason is more excellent than that which does not exercise reason; there is nothing more excellent than the universe, therefore the universe exercises reason." End quote. Well, that’s a hell of a statement to ponder over. It definitely lies at the basis of the Stoic belief, that the universe is governed by an intelligent and primordial matter called Logos, which can also be called Universal Reason or Fate.
Living a life according to reason, therefore, is living a life in accordance with nature. This is the underlying idea of ‘amor fati’, which means ‘the love of fate’. In regards to ethics, Zeno’s view seems compatible with the later Stoic definitions of them. Simply put: virtue is the only good, and as opposed to virtue there is vice. The end goal is reaching a state of Eudaimonia, which is human flourishing. And this can be achieved by the pursuit of virtue. Or as Zeno stated: “Happiness is a good flow of life.”
A bit more detailed description of Eudaimonia we can find in the works of Diogenes, who quotes Zeno as follows: "The end may be defined as life in accordance with nature or, in other words, in accordance with our own human nature as well as that of the universe." End quote. Zeno also laid the foundation for the system of indifferents; things that aren’t necessarily good or bad but can nevertheless contribute to self-preservation or destruction. He saw the human tendency for self-preservation as a part of human nature, which isn’t virtuous on its own but could contribute towards one’s efforts towards it.
This set the Stoics apart from the Cynics, who rejected possessions and everything that befalls the body. According to Stoicism, indifferents do have value, and we should pursue them, but not cling to them as possessions that will make our life better, but as a catalyst for living in agreement with nature. For example, wealth itself doesn’t lead to virtue, but it does lead to self-preservation which can assist in the pursuit of virtue. Another example: sickness doesn’t lead to vice, but it is not a preferable thing because its destructive nature goes against self-preservation.
Zeno also stated that ’bad feelings’ are commotions of the mind, repugnant to reason, and against nature. So, even though emotions are human, they are a sign of (simply put) bad reasoning and could be overcome by getting a clear understanding of how life works. Grievance because of death could be overcome by accepting that death is a natural and inherent part of life. And our frustrations with ’bad parents’ could be overcome by the knowledge that, at the end of the day, no one is entitled to good parents.
We see that all these misfortunes happen according to natural laws, which are, fundamentally, reasonable. About Zeno’s death, there’s no consensus, as different sources tell different things. Also, it is impossible to know what Zeno really thought, because none of his works survived. Some say that his contributions to Stoic philosophy, as we know it, were of high significance, while others believe that other philosophers like Cleanthes and Chrysippus were responsible for the actual development of Stoicism, and Zeno’s role as ´founder´ is more of a symbolic one.
Nonetheless, he remains a key figure in the history of Stoicism. Thank you for watching.